Mechanical Music in the Movies
By Denis Anderson
I know this thread's a bit old, but I was just getting through my back catalog of old movies on video when I came across a film called 'Pete Kelley's Blues'. It stars Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee amongst others, was made in '53, but set in 1919. Most of the action takes place in a dance hall where Pete's band plays, and somewhere in the dialog is the line "the band plays five days a week, and the player piano the other two".
Anyway, in the last dying moments of the film, what looks like it could be an Ed Link orchestral piano has a major part, playing a very spirited number with pipes and drums and cymbals, and with a sign on it that says "Play this in the intermission, 5c". It manages not to get damaged in the ensuing gun-fight! There's also an upright pianola to be seen in the background.
Denis Anderson
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(Message sent Tue 25 Mar 1997, 09:00:19 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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